Chapter 85: A Test of Strength
It was now just a waiting game for whenever they decide to come in to get me. Of course I don’t really know what to expect since it is something they are planning.
I know the bare minimum which is that I’ll be fighting against one of them.
A fight against someone that I can’t kill. I’ll have to hold back some of my power but if they really are a rank above me right now... Would it really make a difference?
I don’t want to get myself killed somehow either so this is where I need to pay attention to how the fights going.
It won’t be that hard to control your strength, you already got a good handle on the control of your power.
I believe that I’ll be able to control it for the most part but it still gives me a bit of concern. I don’t want to accidentally kill one of the Variseth family members because I couldn’t control my power.
I’ve also got to see how strong they truly are in battle.
Knock. Knock. "Rokuro are you ready?" A woman’s voice asks softly from the other side of the door.
"I’ll be back. Lilly watch over Ghost." I say before heading for the door.
"R...Roku! Please be careful!" Lilly shouts with a bit of worry in her voice.
I look back for a moment, seeing the worry across both of their faces. It was only natural but everything will be fine. "I’ll be careful, no need to worry." I assure her before giving a smile towards them both.
Upon opening the door I was greeted by Ellie once again, the woman who showed us to the room originally. She didn’t say anything and just gestures for me to follow her so I did.
It was a pretty silent walk down the hall until we started heading down the steps. "This test of strength will be the best way for them to see if you are worth the time. It also tells them if you are a good ally to have as well." Ellie explains as we walk.
"What happens if I’m not worth their time?" I question curiously.
"You’ll just be escorted out of the manor and you won’t get the chance to talk with the Variseth family again." Ellie answers without any hesitation in her voice.
So basically it is a one and done deal if I can’t beat the person in a fight or prove that I’m strong enough to still be considered an ally. I definitely don’t believe this is a very reasonable way to go about things either.
But sometimes you don’t get to decide these things so it is what it is. I’ll just have to let it go for the time being until everything is over.
"I can assure you that it is nothing against you or your group. This is pretty normal for those the Variseth take notice of. Something caught their attention with you when you entered the manor." Ellie says with confidence before we reach a door.
The door before me was definitely quite big, it reminds me of the tower doors that we had to open up. It has been a little bit since I left that tower and yet it still seems to bring memories back to me.
"Good luck." Ellie finishes with before she walks away.
I’ll take the luck since anything will help in the fight against the unknown.
I push the door open and head into the room, it was a big open space with a seating area in the top parts of the room. A few people were seated in the stands, including Ghost and Lilly.
Makes sense that they would get a chance to watch everything unfold here today. Alarion was in the center of the stands, sitting on a throne like chair watching me. "Welcome to your test of strength Rokuro. I look forward to seeing what you can do against my brother." Alarion speaks with a bit of excitement in his voice.
"I hope I won’t disappoint." I respond loud enough for him to hear.
Not that I care about what they see or don’t see here today. I’m doing this to try to stop a potential war so if this doesn’t help then it’ll all be pointless.
Then again, I can’t expect one family like them to just stop everything that’s in play. I’m also told that a war isn’t happening so it is hard to understand what the truth is.
Everyone has been feeding me a different story each time I go to find information about it. The only difference with Variseth is that they seem to be set on killing without hesitation if there is a war.
Yet Alarion claims that he wouldn’t want unnecessary bloodshed?
I don’t understand a thing about them just yet since it’s the first time I’ve met them all but yeah. Rika were you genuinely a good person or... I guess dragon in your time?
Good? Dragons don’t necessarily have a filter like that, or at least most don’t. I’d say I was a bit better than most of the dragons in my time.
I didn’t kill people just for the fun of it or to satisfy my hunger.
Makes a bit of sense I suppose. I’ve really knew if dragons were good or evil when it came to stories. They were always guarding princesses that needed to be saved or attacking random villages, castles, and such.
What made you want to ask this all of a sudden?
At the moment I believe I’m doing everything for the right cause, one that would make me a good person. I just don’t know if that’ll always be the way I am or not since I’m becoming a dragon as well.
I’ll still be human of course but obviously it seems that I’ll be able to become a dragon fully one day as well. So I figured it would be good to ask if you were more of a good one or an evil one.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone walking into the open space in front of me. It was Sylas, this time he held a sword in his hand. A nice sword with a silver blade that seems to have a nice reflective light to it.
Seems as if it was just freshly made for this battle alone.
"Will you be using a weapon as well Rokuro or will you risk your life without one?" Sylas asks with a bit of curiosity in his voice.
I didn’t really consider a weapon in any of my previous fights because I could just utilize my dragon power to fight. Would it be possible to make something that isn’t an obvious give away of my power?
We could temporarily make a gauntlet strong enough to withstand a swords attacks. Then you won’t have to worry about showing talons or scales for the time being.
I didn’t know that was something that I was capable of doing or it would’ve been a weapon I used in the tower.
You didn’t need to hide anything in the tower.
Actually that’s a pretty valid point so I don’t really have an argument for that one. Well let’s quickly form this gauntlet so we can get this test on the road.
I focused for a few moments as scales started to form across my right arm but it wasn’t anything like before. The jagged black scales had slowly started forming into a gauntlet as if it was something natural.
The crimson glow that I can occasionally see through the cracks of the scales was also quite interesting. A talon took on more of a completed look for this gauntlet and it was just enough to use this as my weapon and armor.
"This will be enough for me to use in the fight against you." I answer while looking back down at the gauntlet.
I didn’t think I could make something like this since I was used to just using the raw power instead. Talons were already quite effective against enemies so there wasn’t a need for a gauntlet before.
It’s definitely not anything special compared to me just using my power outright but this will at least hide things a bit.
"Sylas are you ready to begin this test?" Alarion asks while a more serious expression was across his face this time.
"Of course, I’m actually pretty excited." Sylas answers while twirling his sword around.
A fight against someone that I can’t kill or push myself too much against. But if I hold back too much it could also result in me dying here.
A good balance for it will be the way to go if I want to win without causing any real harm to him. Well, more of the lethal kind I mean.
People will be hurt here in some way or another.
"Then let’s begin." Alarion says as he crosses his arms.